Amsterdam to ban smoking pot in school
By TOBY STERLING | Associated Press –
AMSTERDAM (AP) —
>Amsterdam's
mayor said Wednesday he would formally ban students from smoking
marijuana at school, making the Dutch capital the first city in the
Netherlands to do so.
Eberhard van der Laan's
introduction of a law that in other countries either already exists or
seems so obvious it wouldn't even require a rule is the result of the
Netherlands' unique drugs policy. Under the "tolerance" principle,
marijuana is technically illegal here, but police can't prosecute
people for possession of small amounts.
That's the loophole that made
possible Amsterdam's famed "coffee shops" — cafes where marijuana is
sold openly. But it has also had the unwanted side effect that Dutch children are frequently exposed to the drug in public areas.
City spokeswoman Iris Reshef
says schools have always forbidden pot, but found it difficult to
enforce the policy when students smoked on or near campus and
challenged administrators to do anything about it.
"It's not really what you have
in mind as an educator, that children would be turning up for class
stoned, or drunk either for that matter," she said. "But it has been a
problem for some schools."
After a change in national law,
the city will now be able to declare as of Jan. 1 "no toking zones" —
areas like schools and playgrounds where weed-smoking is forbidden —
under a public nuisance ordinance. Police can then levy fines against
students or anybody else who flouts the rules.
The move is closely paired with a decision by the new government to
ditch plans for a national "weed pass" that would have blocked tourists
from buying marijuana.
That was a measure years in the
making, and greatly desired by southern cities such as Maastricht that
have been flooded with dealers from Belgium and Germany who drive
across the border to buy weed in bulk. But the weed pass was opposed by
Amsterdam, where drug tourists are not generally seen as causing many
problems.
Last month, Van der Laan
proclaimed that coffee shops would stay open for tourists after all. In
a letter Wednesday, he noted that one in three tourists who come to
Amsterdam try marijuana while they're here, more than previously
estimated.
Wednesday's decision seems to
signal a typically Dutch compromise outcome: the drug will remain
available for adults and tourists who want to try it, but access for
children will be restricted.
After several decades of the
tolerance policy, Dutch marijuana usage rates are in the middle of
international norms, higher than those in neighboring Germany, but
lower than those in France, Britain or the United States.
Z: Tough times in Amsterdam, huh? What do you think of this?
And does ANYBODY believe the stat that one in three tourists go all the way to Amsterdam to try pot? REALLY?
Z
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